Reduce your BMI, pay less for insurance

Wow – this is huge, if it catches on. And why not? Insurance companies have long charged us more for unhealthy behavior (smoking). About time they reward you for doing something healthy.

* disclaimer – Yes, I would certainly qualify for this reduced insurance cost. But I’m more interested in finding any way we can to reduce the level of obesity in this country – particularly in our children. I live in the diabetes capital of the US – rarely a day goes by that I don’t see a twelve year old that outweighs me.

HARTFORD, Conn. – Amid a growing obesity epidemic in the United States, an insurance company has started giving customers another reason to slim down by being one of the first in the nation to offer discounts to customers who keep a low body-mass index.

The program by Phoenix Cos. Inc. offers discounts up to 20 percent on life insurance policies to customers whose BMI is verified by a doctor to be 19 to 25.